Contacting the Branch

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If you have any questions or need any support please contact the Branch Office

 contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

Or you can call 020 8359 2088, if we are unable to answer the telephone please leave a message speaking slowly and clearly please include your name, telephone number, membership number and a brief message about the assistance you require. We will respond as soon as we can.

Alternatively you can contact UNISON Direct Call Centre by telephone 

08000 857 857 Monday – Friday 6am – Midnight, Saturday 9am – 4pm

or make an online enquiry by clicking the following link

https://www.unison.org.uk/get-help/online-enquiries/

To Join UNISON click the following link 

https://join.unison.org.uk/

📢 Barnet UNISON Update: Professional Registration Fees for Social Workers

Anti - Racism, Austerity, Local, News, Solidarity, UNISON Campaign

Dear Members,

Barnet UNISON is continuing to advocate on behalf of our social work members regarding the issue of professional registration fees.

We recently wrote to the employer requesting that Barnet Council consider covering the cost of annual professional registration fees for social workers. This request was made in recognition of the fact that registration with Social Work England is a statutory requirement—without it, social workers cannot legally practice or be employed in their role.

In response, the employer reiterated their current policy of not paying professional subscriptions for staff, citing that such requirements are already considered within the job evaluation process. They also expressed concerns about affordability and fairness across different professions.

We have responded to this position by highlighting that:

  • Social workers are uniquely impacted by this statutory requirement, which is not optional and must be renewed annually.
  • This ongoing cost is not currently reflected in the job evaluation process, despite repeated concerns raised by UNISON over the years.
  • Other councils do support their social workers with this cost, and we believe Barnet should review its stance in light of this growing trend.

We have formally requested a meeting with senior management and HR to discuss this issue further and explore potential solutions, including a review of the job evaluation process and possible financial support options.

📌 Please keep an eye out for further updates as we continue to push for a fair and equitable outcome for our members.

If you have any questions on this matter, please email Barnet UNISON at contactus@barnetunison.org.uk.

In solidarity, Barnet UNISON

 

Reject the insulting 3.2% National Pay offer – inflation now 3.5%

Anti - Racism, Austerity, National, News, UNISON Campaign

VOTE REJECT – YOUR PAY MATTERS ‼️

Barnet UNISON is urging every member to REJECT the employers’ 3.2% pay offer for 2025/26. Here’s why your voice – and your vote – matters more than ever:

📉 3.2% Is a Pay Cut, Not a Pay Rise

 Inflation has jumped to 3.5% (The Guardian, 21 May 2025). The 3.2% offer won’t even keep pace — it’s a real-terms cut. 

🛑 We’ve Already Lost Enough

Local government pay has lost 25% of its value since 2010.

Thousands of frontline staff are struggling to cover rising housing, childcare, and energy bills while employers reject even basic improvements.

💸 There Is Money – It’s Just Hoarded at the Top

In the UK, the 50 richest families now hold more wealth than the poorest 50% of the population combined, which includes over 34 million people. The number of billionaires in the UK has risen from 15 in 1990 to 165 in 2024, with the average billionaire’s wealth increasing over 1,000% during that period. The rich are getting richer — and fast.

Public services are being starved while extreme wealth is left untaxed. It’s time to tax the rich — not make workers pay for the crisis they didn’t cause.

🧨 Always Money for War, But Never for Workers

Government spending on military escalation continues — while schools crumble, council services are slashed, and staff like us are told to tighten our belts.

Our communities need investment, not cuts. We cannot rebuild services on broken wages.

 ⚠️ This Offer Solves Nothing

  • Employers have rejected every call for better working conditions:
    ❌ No £15/hr minimum
    ❌ No extra leave
    ❌ No reduced hours
    ❌ No term-time flexibility

 ✊ We Deserve Better

This fight is about dignity, respect, and fairness. We keep services running. We supported our communities through crisis after crisis. Now they expect us to accept less – again.

🗳️ Vote REJECT — and demand a deal that reflects our value and funds public services, not billionaire bank balances.

End.

 

Mental Health Workers and Service Users Unite to Save Barnet’s Network Service

Anti - Racism, Austerity, Disability, Local, News, UNISON Campaign

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mental Health Workers and Service Users Unite to Save Barnet’s Network Service

We are calling on Barnet Council to protect a lifeline mental health support service—the Network—currently under threat of closure.

The Network provides short-term, therapeutic support and wellbeing workshops to adults experiencing mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Operating from Finchley, the service has offered vital support to vulnerable residents while they await access to NHS Talking Therapies.

If this service is withdrawn, many people will be left without support at a time when demand for mental health care is surging. We are deeply concerned that the closure will lead to increased isolation, greater pressure on overstretched NHS services, and worsening mental health outcomes for some of Barnet’s most at-risk residents.

We urge all mental health professionals, service users, carers, and local residents to stand up and defend this essential service. Your voice can make the difference.

Have your say before the consultation closes on 14 July 2025.

🔗 Respond to the consultation: www.engage.barnet.gov.uk/the-network

📧 Email: CAHConsultation@barnet.gov.uk

Together, let’s show Barnet Council that mental health support matters—and the Network must stay.

 

Notes to Editors.

Contact details: Barnet UNISON on 0208 359 2088 or email: contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

 

 

Consultants are back – Barnet Council award contract to Peopletoo

Anti - Racism, Austerity, Local, News, UNISON Campaign

Barnet Council issued an email to all Barnet Staff about the announcement that they have contracted a consultancy agency Peopletoo

Our members have long memories of what consultants can do to our public services.

We will never forget what happened to our members in Libraries where almost 55% of the workforce were sacked.

We won’t forget the hundreds of redundancies by Capita with the financial support of Barnet Council when they took over our back-office services in 2013.

Back in the late 2000s staff were told that the consultancy company were called in as a critical friend to help support the Council in the future.

16 years later the damage caused by the promotion of some of those ideas is here with us now.

For those who want to know more about the decision to pay Peopletoo can read the report here

Source: Improvement Partner Contract Award, 9 April 2025

https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s89248/Delegated%20Powers%20Report%20-%20Improvement%20Partner%20Final.pdf )

Here are some key facts

The contract is due to commence on May 1, 2025.

The contract is structured in two phases:

  • Stage 1: Diagnostic Phase: This phase has a fixed term price of £652,700. The purpose of this stage is for Peopletoo to conduct a thorough analysis of the council’s operations and finances to identify potential savings and improvements.
  • Stage 2: Delivery Phase: The contract includes an option for Barnet Council to proceed with a Stage 2 delivery phase. The final budget for this phase is contingent on the findings and recommendations of the Stage 1 diagnostic phase.
  • Funding Approval: Barnet Council’s Cabinet approved one-off funding of up to £3 million for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the improvement partner contract on February 18, 2025. This funding is allocated from the council’s contingency budget for the 2025/26 financial year.

Barnet UNISON hopes that lessons on the use of consultants have been learnt.

Barnet UNISON will be asking for details about Stage 1 shortly.

Keep an eye out in future eNews.

End.

 

“3.2% is not good enough – members deserve better!”

Anti - Racism, Austerity, Barnet Group, Barnet Homes, Demonstration, Disability, Health and Safety, Housing, Libraries, News, Pensions, Schools, Solidarity, TBG Flex, UNISON Campaign, Your Choice Barnet

The news is that the response of the employers to the joint trade union National Pay claim for £3,000 is 3.2%.

Barnet UNISON members can view what 3.2% means to their grade by clicking on the link below

https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/2025/04/24/national-pay-offer-3-2/

UNISON members know that their pay has fallen behind the cost of living and that they are “all now working one day a week for free.”

If we continue to fail to negotiate a pay award that directly deals with the cost-of-living crisis, soon public sector workers will be working “two days a week for free.”

We are in the worst cost-of-living crisis in 77 years.

Politicians seeking to confuse and defend poor pay talk about inflation rates falling as if that has improved things for our members.

Speaking to some of our lowest paid members in care homes, depots, and schools, they are seriously struggling to survive on poverty wages.

Inflation may go up and down, but prices are not going down and they keep rising:

  • 50% rise in local Bus Fares
  • 41% rise in Water Bills
  • 22% rise in Stamp prices
  • 18.4% rise in Energy Bills
  • 16% rise Rail Cards
  • 14% rise in Tuition Fees
  • 4.99% rise in Council Tax
  • 4.6% rise in Rail Fares

Whilst the poor are getting poorer, and the rich are getting richer.

We have been here before in 2009 our Barnet UNISON Branch Secretary set out his serious concerns in a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown 24 June 2009

“Barnet Council has made efficiency savings of £80.9m over 7 years, £58.8m in the last 5 years” 

https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/NO_PRIMEMINISTER_0.pdf

15 years ago, Barnet UNISON had concerns about poverty, privatisation and the emergence of the Far-Right politics. In Barnet Council we had hundreds of redundancies for several years as the Council claimed they were not being funded. Things haven’t changed and we had our first round of redundancies last December due to the current financial crisis.

What is clear is that the voices of our members across the Council across workplaces, be it a school, a depot, care home or day centre need to be heard and LOUDLY.

Barnet Council is lobbying the government for more funding, but there needs to be more pressure than that. We all need to add our voices for more funding

We are asking our members to sign the following Petition to Angela Rayner (who used to be a UNISON rep). This petition is not just for our members but can be signed by members’ family and friends or anyone who wants to see an end to the destruction of public services.

https://chng.it/6DSvxfZqhz

 

end.

 

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